Accusing Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann of having no time to look at the issues of the State, the Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday took a dig at him saying that he was “working as a pilot of Arvind Kejriwal”.
 
“Mann should tour India, but not as the pilot of the Aam Aadmi Party chief and Delhi Chief Minister,” quipped Shah while addressing a rally at Gurdaspur to mark the completion of nine years of the Narendra Modi-led Union Government.
 
Lashing out at the AAP-led State Government for Punjab’s law and order going from bad to worse, Shah said that the Chief Minister Mann has no time to spare for it and his only job seems to take the state aircraft for Arvind Kejriwal’s nationwide tours. “Sometimes I wonder whether he is a chief minister or a pilot…Kejriwal’s countrywide tour is conducted by the Punjab Chief Minister,” said Shah.
 
“I have never seen a government like the Aam Aadmi Party’s, which makes shallow promises. Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann has only one job: if Kejriwal has to go to Chennai, then the Punjab CM takes a plane to Delhi and accompanies Kejriwal to Chennai. If Kejriwal has to go to Kolkata, the Punjab CM takes a plane to Delhi and accompanies Kejriwal to Kolkata. Punjab CM is arranging Kejriwal’s India tour,” he said.
 
He said that AAP Government has no concerns for problems of Punjab, and “the Chief Minister is touring the entire country. One can understand if he does so on his own, but as Kejriwal’s pilot?”
 
Shah, addressing a rally in this border district of Punjab as part of the BJP's outreach campaign to mark the completion of nine years of the Narendra Modi government, Shah said: “In my entire life, I have not seen a government like the one led by AAP, which makes hollow promises.”
 
Attacking Mann, he said that Punjab Chief Minister’s entire time is consumed by Kejriwal's tours and “as a result of this, Punjab's law and order is going from bad to worse…the people are not safe here”.
 
While the drug trade is increasing, Shah said, the Chief Minister has no time to address it or farmers' issues.
 
Attacking AAP over its poll promises, Shah said: “I have come here to ask Bhagwant Mann and Kejriwal that you had promised Rs 1,000 to every woman in the state, but they are still waiting for that. What to talk of Rs 1,000, not even 1,000 paisa has been transferred into their accounts.”
 
He listed various achievements of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre in nine years and said that India is now known as a growth engine around the world.
 
Attacking the AAP dispensation in Punjab, Shah said that oppression of Dalits has increased here. A minister is involved in sexually exploiting a Dalit, but no action has been taken, he said, without naming the minister.
 
At the same time, Shah appealed to the people to re-elect the BJP-led Government at the Centre with more than 300 seats in 2024 Lok Sabha polls, saying that the PM Modi has to be made Prime Minister again.
 
Referring to AAP's pre-poll promise in Punjab, he said that it promised to garner Rs 20,000 crore by taking action against illegal mining, but only Rs 125 crore has been collected, which is less than even that by the previous governments.
 
For marriage of girls, it promised Rs 51,000 assistance. There are 15,000 applications, but not even one has been given assistance by the Mann government, he said.
 
Mann's two priorities are “furthering Kejriwal's politics and giving full-page advertisements (in newspapers) across the country”, he charged.
 
“I can understand the Punjab government issuing advertisements in Punjab, but it is issuing advertisements in Gujarat, Kerala and West Bengal using state funds,” he said.
 
He lauded the role of Punjabis in safeguarding the nation's borders and hailed their sacrifices for the motherland. Shah said that Punjab is a land of farmers and the Central Government has taken several steps for the benefits of farmers.
 
He also talked about initiatives such as Kartapur Sahib corridor, observing December 26 each year as 'Vir Bal Divas', renovated Jallianwala Bagh memorial, Delhi-Amritsar-Katra highway, and two Vande Bharat trains for Punjab.
 
Shah also touched upon the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, saying that it was the Modi Government which send the culprits behind bars.
 
He said the BJP-led government at the Centre did a lot of work for Gurdaspur, including building roads with a total length of 431 km and 10,000 houses under the PM Awas Yojana.
 
Shah announces to establish NCB office in Amritsar
Union Minister Shah also announced the setting up of the NCB office in Amritsar.
 
“The Modi Government is working towards making the country free from drugs and uprooting the drug trade from within Punjab. NCB office will be opened in Amritsar within a month to fight the fight against drugs and within a short time BJP workers will go to every village and start the journey of public awareness against drugs," he announced.
 
Many senior BJP leaders absent
Many senior BJP leaders from Punjab, including party’s local MP Sunny Deol, were absent during the Union Minister Shah's rally in Gurdaspur.
 
Among those who remained conspicuous by their absence included the late Vinod Khanna's wife Kavita Khanna, who contested on a BJP ticket, and Swaran Salaria, who contested the Lok Sabha seat.
 
BJP’s Gurdaspur MP Sunny Deol was also absent from this rally, the reason is said to be his son's marriage. Deol's absence from the party's big event remained a major topic of discussion among the workers who arrived at the rally.
 
Meanwhile, Union Ministers Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Arjun Ram Meghwal, and BJP leaders Vijay Rupani, Manpreet Singh Badal, Sunil Jakhar, Ashwani Sharma and Manoranjan Kalia were among those present at the rally.